All Magic has Secrets
by theHumbleGM
Summary: One shot: The first chapter to a three part story I am writing about an old D&D character, Anivari.


**I'm really only posting this so the readers of my current story can see what I've been up to on my hiatus. I've been working on this for a little while and entered it into a contest this past week. it's about my old D&D character Anivari, a sneaky elven sorcerer. She's one of my favorite characters and I love writing about her.**

**To any of my current readers who are checking this out, I hope this makes up for my short absence!**

**As always, happy reading.**

A roar sounded through the clearing, causing the remaining birds nearby to scatter and fly off. Hiding in a tree at the edge of the clearing, Anivari panted as she moved again. She climbed through the boughs and got onto the branch of a nearby tree just as the one she had been on was knocked off its trunk. The troll she was fighting roared as it searched the branches for her.

"I'm behind you, big boy!" came a call from the clearing as a rock struck the back of the troll's head. It turned and charged the armor clad person, swinging a small tree as a club. The smaller figure ducked and dodged as the troll attacked. "You're going to have to do better than that if you wanna hit me!"

Suddenly, the fighter tripped over one of the fallen branches. This allowed the troll's next swing to make contact, but it only managed to knock the helmet off its target. As the helmet bounced across the ground, the brown haired human who was revealed smiled. "That's better, but still didn't quite get me," he taunted as he rolled and got back to his feet.

"Coming at you, Spike!" called another voice. Across the clearing, another armor clad figure waited as a thin, red haired human woman ran toward the fight. As she reached her companion, they leaned down with both hands together. Once she stepped into their hands, they used her momentum to toss her into the air.

As she flew through the air, she laughed, and then black hair exploded out of her as a large bear took her place. The bear crashed into the troll just as Spike got out of the way.

"Nice aim, Llego!" Spike called as he kept his distance. The bear reared up and raked her claws across the troll's arms and torso. They circled each other, swinging at the other as they moved.

The bear got several good scratches on the troll before it finally landed a hit on her, knocking her away. The troll reared back its head and roared at them all. The bear righted itself and roared back as the two armor clad males moved forward to surround it. It swung at Spike first, but he blocked the swing. Llego swung at the troll's leg in response, and the bear swatted at the troll's back. The troll turned and tried to hit the bear, but the two males knocked its arm down so it slammed into the ground, getting its club stuck. The troll released the small tree and swung its arm at the bear, knocking her across the clearing.

"Rose!" Spike ducked a swing and moved to stand between their opponent and his companion. Again, the troll swung his arms and managed to knock his target several feet away. The bear whined as she tried to stand.

Llego, who was alone now, swiped at the troll's leg and backed up as it turned around to charge him. Before it could reach him, a small ball of fire hit it in the head, setting his sparse hair on fire. "Taking your time, Anivari?" the man called, dodging the troll's waving arms.

"Just trying not to fall out of the tree," she called back as she came down to the lowest branch. The troll was burnt, bleeding, and tired as it looked at her in the tree. "Be gone," she called out in the troll's language. "Leave, and we will not kill you."

Instead of responding, the troll began to run at her. She jumped to the ground, whispering, and held her hands in front of her. The troll made it to within twenty paces of Anivari before acid sprayed out from her hands, coating it. It fell to the ground as it cried out and the acid sizzled on its skin. She coated it again, and watched carefully to make sure it didn't get back up again.

"I had almost forgotten trolls regenerate," the remaining fighter said as he joined her, pulling off his helmet. He was a tall elf, with blond hair and green eyes. He looked her up and down with a concern expression on his face. "Are you alright? We came to find you as soon as we heard it yelling."

"I'm fine, Llego," she said dusting herself off and moving away from the body. "He may have gotten a few lucky swings in, but he had trouble finding me in the trees."

"Good, I am glad that you are okay."

"Is that thing dead yet?" the human man asked as he helped the other woman join them. Spike Shef wrinkled his nose as they approached. "That smells awful, what did you do to it?"

"Saved your butt," responded the red-haired female. Rose Shef, the man's wife, was a short human with brilliant blue eyes and a sunny smile.

"What do you mean, saved my butt? What about yours? You got whacked first."

"Sure, but I was only distracting him so Ani could get a good angle on him," she responded with a wink.

"Tell that to your leg." Llego came over to help Spike sit his wife on one of the broken logs. "Do you want me to get you something for that?"

"Oh no, thank you, I've got it," she answered. She pulled up the hem of her pants leg and place her hands over her swollen shin. Green light began to shine off her hands as she ran them over her leg.

"I'm sorry I couldn't take care of him on my own," Anivari apologized.

"I wouldn't worry about it, you kept him away from the cart, so you did just fine." Spike moved to collect his helmet. "Speaking of, I'll make sure the horse hasn't run off."

Rose finished and put her clothes back in place. "There." She stood and shifted her weight from one leg to the other a few times. "All fixed. I'll go with Spike, in case Winny has run off."

"Sounds good," Anivari replied as Rose jogged to catch up to her husband. She looked up at her friend with a smile. "Well, suppose that leaves us for clean up."

"As per usual," Llego replied with a smile. "Good thing we're getting so good at it, we'll be done in no time," he said as he moved to clear a space away from the trees. Between the two of them, they made a pile of dry logs and placed the troll's body on top of it, before Llego moved and gave Anivari space to start a fire.

"So, any plans when we get back home?" Llego asked after the fire got going.

"I'm not sure. We haven't gotten a lot of sleep, since this was a rush job, so I'll probably take a hot bath and a nice long nap."

"Sounds like a good plan," Llego said.

"What about you?" she asked, glancing up at him. His face was a little red, but he wasn't very close to the fire. She must have made it hotter then she thought. "Anything you want to do?" His cheeks seemed to darken some as he considered her question. "If it's too warm, you can back up."

He gave her a small smile as he shook his head. "Uh, no, it's alright, I'm fine. I'm just a little tired from the fight, that's all."

"That was a pretty great throw, by the way. I suppose it was easy with Rose, her being so small."

"It was her idea actually, she said she was tired of always being the last to the fight." He hurried to add, "I could just as easily have thrown someone else in. You, for example. You're just the right size to be tossed, too. I mean, if you wanted to be."

Anivari grinned at him. "Slow-poke is offering me a hand getting into a fight? I never need help getting to them, I'm always the first one there!"

He laughed. "That could, of course, mean that you always start them."

"True…" They both laughed as they turned to watch the fire together, Anivari occasionally adding more to the body. As it was dying down, leaving charred bone behind, Spike and Rose returned.

"We're just about finished here," Llego told them. "You were gone a while, did you have trouble with Winny?"

"Yeah," Rose answered. "She ran off and got the cart stuck between two trees and messed up her leg pretty bad. Took a little while to get her calmed down so I could help her and fix the cart."

"Was the load damaged?" Anvari asked.

"Nope," Spike responded. "We packed it perfectly, so it's still strapped in nice and tight." He watched as the last of the fire burnt out. "So, are we leaving the bones here or burying them?"

"Up to you," Anivari answered. Spike raised his eyebrow at her. "We cleaned up most of it, you and Rose can finish it up I think."

"Oh, well-"

"Buried!" Rose shouted, then immediately expanded in size as she became a small rock golem. She moved forward with no warning and started digging into the ground, using her hands like shovels. Spike immediately raised his armored arms to protect his face from the flying debris, and Llego moved in front of Anivari, doing the same.

"Hey!" Anivari shouted from behind Llego, grateful for the cover. "You mind not doing that right next to us?"

Rose looked at them, impatience somehow coming across her stone face and she gestured at them to leave. The trio turned and walked across the clearing as she started digging into the ground again.

Anivari lithely crossed over the trunks and other shrubs as the two males followed behind her, moving more slowly in their armor.

"So, did you ask her?" Spike asked quietly.

Llego raised an eyebrow at him. "Ask her what?"

Spike scoffed. "Don't give me that. Why do you think Rose and I left you two alone? Did you ask her to go to the festival with you tomorrow?"

"Oh, no. I didn't get the chance."

"Bullshit." Spike shoved Llego a little. "Why don't you just ask her out already? We left you with plenty of time to talk. It can't be all work, no play, buddy. Just ask her already."

"I don't think I will, Spike."

"Why is that?"

"Hey Spike, where's the wagon?" Anivari had stopped next to the trail and was looking both ways.

"It's a little ways up. I didn't want the horse spooking again if we ended up going with the louder clean up routine." Back in the clearing, the sounds of snapping bones and rumbling ground could be heard.

"You ever think that's why she's in such a good mood all the time?" Anivari asked.

"I know it," Spike responded. "Better she take out her frustrations that way than on me." They all laughed.

As they got to the wagon, there was a rumble. Across the path from the horse, Rose, still a golem, came up from under the ground. When she had fully surfaced, she shook a little and then changed back. Dusting off the last bits of dirt, she smiled wide at the group. "I'm all finished! I don't know what you burned it with this time Ani, but the bones snapped much easier than usual."

Anivari laughed and said, "I didn't burn them any different. Maybe you're just getting stronger." Llego moved to check on the horse and release the break on the wagon.

Spike hoisted his wife into the back of the wagon, making her laugh. "Maybe! We have been getting more exercise lately," she said wiggling her eyebrows at her husband. Spike laughed as he hopped into the back as well, then soundly kissed her on the mouth.

"Please refrain from any of that sort of _exercise_ on the way home," Llego said as he hopped into the driver's seat.

The pair laughed as they got situated and the wagon began to roll forward. Anivari smiled as she watched them start moving, and then melted into the shadows as she moved to scout ahead of them.

* * *

A few hours later, they had finally returned home to Berne, the capital of Shelliann. It was home to several treasure hunting guilds, the largest of which was the Seeker Syndicate. The guild was one of the first to be established after the ban on magic had been lifted.

Almost a thousand years prior, a magic war had waged across the continent of Harkross, dividing the country in two, and destroying the once great capital. The effects of the magic were horrific; a large portion of land down the middle of the continent was destroyed, leaving behind a desert wasteland full of rogue magical effects. Shortly after, the use of magic was strictly forbidden across both the newly created countries.

It had been a decade since the ban on magic had been lifted, allowing all magics to be used once more. With the ban no longer in place, an interest in the lost magics, magic artifacts, and more importantly, the lost knowledge from the old civilizations, had risen. Those in search of adventure and riches had started banding together to find the long forgotten ruins and retrieve the missing resources.

As more and more adventure seeking souls had begun to search, guilds had started forming across the countries, bringing people together to share supplies and information.

As the cart crested the top of the hill just outside of Berne, the Syndicate building could be seen through a clearing in the trees. It was by far the largest building in the city; built on the edge of town, making expansion easier, it had its own dining hall, blacksmith, stable, armorer, healers, training courses, and housing for all its members. Assembled with a combination of stone and timber at the hands of expert builders, it rivaled the structures of the wealthy in terms of both size and beauty.

The foursome entered town on the same side as the guildhall, following a switchback down the steep hill. Their leader, Benji Grindskull, had his office near the front entrance, so Anivari parted from her group at one of the bends in the road so she could inform him of their return more quickly.

She scaled the wall between the compound and trees, pausing as she threw a leg over the top of the wall. Nearby, a dog began barking frantically before appearing below her. A moment later, a whistle sounded across the yard, and the dog quieted before running back to his handler. Anivari finished swinging over the wall and then headed towards the building. The guard at the front opened the door for her as she approached.

"Welcome back, Anivari."

"Good afternoon, Bruhn," she replied as she leaned down to pat the dog's head. "Good afternoon to you as well, Titan."

"Remember to pretend that I've scolded you again about the wall."

"I will," she responded with a laugh as she entered. She followed the hall a ways until she arrived at Benji's secretary's desk, which was overflowing with paperwork. "Hello John, is the boss in? We just gotten back."

John, a middle-aged human man, didn't even bother looking up. In a tired voice, he said, "Yes, he is. Go right in, he's expecting you." Anivari thanked him and then entered Benji's office.

The large room was sparsely decorated with a few weapons hanging off one wall, along with a stand with a full set of plate armor. There were tables and boxes covered in stacks of papers, a physical testament to how much their leader hated paperwork. On the far side, there was a massive desk with several chairs set up in front of it and one large one behind it for the leader of the Seeker Syndicate.

Benji Grindskull sat there now, muttering to himself as he moved papers around. He had long black hair and a braided beard that contained a few silver beads bearing the crest of his family. He didn't look up immediately, so she stepped up to his desk and quietly cleared her throat. "I came to check in, sir. We've just returned."

As he looked up at her, he gave her a smile, his brown eyes bright. "I figured you were when I heard Titan out front. Were you and the others successful in collecting the artifact?"

"Yes sir, they should be pulling into the yard now. I wanted to inform you as soon as possible."

"I assume by the commotion, you scaled the wall again, hm?"

"Yes sir, I'm afraid I did," she said, her voice unapologetic. "Don't worry, Bruhn scolded me already."

Benji laughed, unconvinced. "I'm sure he did."

"I wanted to let you know the artifact's bigger than we anticipated, and heavier, so I felt it warranted a check in with you before we unloaded it."

"Just how big?"

"It fills at least half the cart and we had to use one of the feather scrolls to lighten its weight so the horse could pull it."

"Hmm. Bring it to the loading door of the storage wing, then. They should have a big enough space for it until I can go check it."

"Yes sir, I'll go let the others know." She nodded at Benji and turned to leave.

"Anivari."

She turned around. "Yes, boss?"

He gestured at her obviously dirty attire. "Did you guys have any problems?"

"A little bit. We came across a troll a few hours outside of town, but we took care of it. Also, the Collectors showed up while we were transporting the statue."

The Crimson Collectors was one of the shadier treasure hunting guilds in their country. Most guilds operated on a first come, first serve basis, allowing for more than one guild to search an area for valuables, but giving priority to whichever guild arrived first. The Collectors were one of the guilds that were of the mind that this rule didn't apply to them; that the treasures belonged to the strongest instead. Bloodshed was common wherever they showed up.

"I wish that demon spawn would get his guild under control," Benji grunted as he leaned back in his chair. "Are you all okay?"

Anivari nodded. "Yes, everyone is fine. Llego, Spike and I were able to hold them off while Rose got the artifact loaded. After we knocked them out, we were able to get back to the road without leaving much of a trail, so they more than likely won't know who it was that took it."

The dwarf nodded. "That's good, I'm glad you were able to keep yourselves out of trouble. Handling the Collectors is not easy."

Anivari smiled. "Well, we are the best at what we do."

Benji barked out a laugh. "Believe what you will, Anivari." He gestured her towards the door as he picked up his quill again. "On your way, will you tell John to come in here for me?"

"Yes sir," she responded, giving him a small bow before leaving. Without closing the door, she moved towards John's desk. "Benji asked for you."

John sighed and hung his head. After a moment, he rose and went through the door, closing it behind him.

Anivari made it outside just as the wagon made it into the yard. "Boss said to take it to the big door of the storage wing," she called as she jogged to catch up.

Llego looked mildly disappointed as he slowed just enough for her to hop up by him. "Anivari, you're not supposed to be climbing the wall around the compound."

"Yeah, yeah." She waved off his comment. "It's not that big of a deal. The dogs all know me by now."

"You know you are seriously undermining their system by coming into the yard that way."

Anivari patted his arm. "Don't worry so much, Llego."

"Yeah, Llego, don't worry so much," Spike side from the back. "She's only risking being torn apart by dogs."

Rose laughed. "They'd have to catch her first. Remember that one ruin with the giant hound? These little ones aren't even a challenge for her!"

Spike frowned as he turned around to face the front. "Rose has a good point. What's the point of the pups if they're no match for a mage?"

Llego sighed. "They alert the guards if there are intruders." He looked down at Anivari. "Or guild members who do not like to follow the rules."

She shrugged. "The way I come in is faster. Plus, if it was really a problem, Benji would have done something about it by now."

"He tells you not to do it all the time," the other elf pointed out.

"And yet, I've never gotten into trouble." Anivari stood up as they passed one of the doors to the guild members' rooms. "Can you guys handle dropping this off? I'd really like a nap."

Before either of the humans could respond, Llego waved her off. "Yes, we can drop it off. Go on and make sure to take that bath you mentioned first."

Anivari smiled as she saluted him. "You got it, captain." Then she was gone.

Spike and Rose looked around as Llego turned the cart towards the correct building. "You know, I wish she'd tell us how she does that," Spike said, leaning over the side. "She just disappears. Does she have some invisibility magic she hasn't told us about yet?"

Rose shook her head. "That's definitely not it. She doesn't poof or anything, she just sort of drops out of view and _then_ disappears."

Llego glanced over his shoulder, laughing as he watched the other two look for her for a moment, before looking forward again. "Give it up, you won't be able to find her."

"Some day…" Spike hopped out of the cart as it rolled to a stop and moved towards the door to knock on it. Another human pulled it open. "What can I do for you, Spike?"

"Boss said to drop this off with you guys," Spike answered, pointing over his shoulder at the cart.

The man nodded before closing the door again. As Llego directed the horse to turn the cart, the large door of the building began to lift. Once it had finished opening, Llego finished backing the cart up, allowing the workers inside easier access to the idol.

Spike patted one of the men on the back before he moved to join Llego again. "We used a feather scroll, guys, so make sure you don't hurt yourself." There were a few sighs, as well as a few "Thank the gods," before the men began unstrapping the artifact. Once it was free, it was an easy matter for them to pull the statue out of the cart and move it towards an open spot against the near wall. Rose filled out the paperwork as Llego left to return the horse and wagon. Spike watched him go as he waited for his wife. Once she was done, he put his arm around her shoulders and they headed for their room.

"Well, what do you think?" Spike asked.

Rose smiled. "About your pet project?"

"It's not a pet project," he argued.

"I'm sorry, I meant matchmaking," she corrected herself with a large grin.

Spike tightened his arm around her for a moment as he tickled her side, causing her to laugh. "Keep that up, and I won't let you help anymore."

The woman merely continued to laugh as they walked. Once they made their way to the appropriate door, Spike leaned forward to open it.

"Fifteen silver says he asks her tonight to go to the fireworks."

Spike grinned at his wife's words. "You're on."

* * *

That evening, there was a party in the group's honor in the great hall to celebrate their find.

Once they item had been checked out, the guild had reached out to the temple in town dedicated to the goddess Rimoria. Upon further inspection by the high priestess, it had been discovered that not only had it been preserved by magic, the statue held residual magic of its own, increasing the power of the goddess's followers within a large range of the relic. They'd offered a sizeable amount of gold, as well as discounted services for many years to come, a benefit to both groups involved.

After Benji found Spike and Rose at the bar, as well as spoke to Llego near one of the exits to the garden, he made his way through the crowd, the trio in tow, towards the front of the hall. Once he made it to the fireplace, he stepped up onto a metal crate full of firewood, drawing cheers once he was finally high enough to be seen. He raised his hands to signal them to quiet down before speaking in a booming voice.

"Thank you everyone for coming! As many of you know, another lost temple was discovered a few days ago. We sent out a team immediately, and although they had some trouble with another guild, they were successful in retrieving a high valued relic without harm coming to them or the artifact!" There were several groans and boos at the mention of the rival guild, many knowing which guild had been the problem, but they all changed to cheers hearing that one of their own had been successful.

"The temple in town devoted to the idol's goddess, Rimoria, made a substantial offer once it was assessed by their high priestess. I am pleased to inform you that we successfully reclaimed and rehomed that idol as the guild's highest priced artifact to date, at nearly twice the price of last year's find in Center Grove!" The cheers were deafening as the whole hall erupted into applause, shouts and whistles. After a few moments, Benji quieted them down again.

"In light of their great work, I'd like to toast those responsible. As many of you know, the work we do does not go unnoticed, and with the inclusion of such a great job well done, I think our guild is going to become even more famous in the coming weeks! So let's raise a glass in a toast! To Llego, Spike, Rose and Anivari!" As the crowd exploded in cheers, Llego smiled and raised his hand to wave while Spike and Rose saluted the crowd with their drinks, smiling and hooting with them.

Outside in the guild's garden, Anivari heard the cheering and smiled. From her vantage point in the tree, she could see the shadows sway from the crowd inside on the frosted windows. She was proud of her teammates. They had all done a great job the last couple days and they deserved to be recognized for their hard work. Anivari, however, preferred to receive her credit this way, from the sidelines.

She took a deep breath. When they were back at the guild, she liked to spend much of her time out here in the garden. It had some of the largest trees in town and the widest assortment of flowers. Their gardeners prided themselves on keeping it neat and bountiful all year long. It was a great place to relax after a hard job.

"Your absence was noted by the big guy." Looking down, she saw Llego standing below her, a smile on his face as he easily found her among the branches.

"I knew it would be if he made a speech. I'd rather risk getting in trouble than being put on display in front of the entire guild." After looking around to make sure that no one else was nearby, she nimbly made her way down to the bottom branch.

Llego held up a small bag to her. "Boss gave us a bonus for a job well done. As captain of our little group," he said with a small smile, "I figured it was my job to accept yours for you."

"Thank you," she said, taking the bag. It was much lighter than she was expecting, and her surprise must have been obvious because Llego smiled wider.

"It's one of the dimensional bags. It has 1,000 gold pieces in it, which can get heavy. We're to return the bags once we've deposited the money."

"Wow, that much?"

"Yes, for a job done well. Our reputation is apparently going to shoot through the roof with the completion of our job."

"That would make sense." Anivari tied the bag to her belt as Llego climbed up to sit next to her on the branch. "When you say 'our,' do you mean our group or the guild?"

"To the public, the guild. To the guild, our group." He settled onto the branch. "I get the feeling we'll be getting a lot of jobs in the near future. Especially since we did such a good job getting away with the idol without killing any of the Collectors."

"We always do a good job," she said with a hint of a defensive tone.

"I know, but it's not every day a group can get away with so little damage when those guys were involved."

"I'm pretty sure we're going to be on their radar once they figure out it was our guild that got it," Anivari said. The Collectors base was also located in Berne, and with the story of their success spreading, it was only a matter of time before they figured out who had gotten away. "While everyone else is happy about what we did, they're going to be furious. They have a reputation for not allowing stunts like that to happen without some form of retaliation."

"You're right." Llego looked across at the guild hall, where the party was still going strong. "I just hope they don't take it out on the guild. If we had known how good the find was going to be, I wouldn't have tried so hard to keep our identity secret from them. If they were just mad at us, we could figure it out, but I don't want them to take it out on the rest of our friends."

"Friends," Anivari whispered to herself. She also looked towards the hall, listening to the party they were throwing inside in their honor. Friends had always been one of those things that eluded her.

Anivari could tell Llego had heard her and was silently watching her scan the building. He, Rose, and Spike were the closest she'd ever come to having friends, but she didn't have enough experience to know for sure if they were friends or if they were just work associates. She certainly didn't have any family anymore, having not spoken to her parents since she left home decades ago. Caring for people had never worked out for her, with all the moving and the resentment that had built up in her parents.

Despite never talking about her family or her past with them, her three comrades understood her pretty well. They may poke every so often to try and get her to do things she wasn't comfortable with, or to share her past when an opportunity presented itself, but they were never overly aggressive with their inquiries. Even now, she could tell Llego was burning to ask what she was thinking about, but he allowed her to keep her thoughts to herself, and for that, she was eternally grateful.

Llego watched as Anivari stared at the hall. He'd called the people inside friends, and while he would put his life on the line for any of his guildmates, he knew Anivari had little attachment to most of them. From the few details she'd shared with them over the years, he knew she more than likely had not made any attachments prior to joining the Seeker Syndicate. Even within the guild, there were only two or three people outside their group she would seek out to talk to, and even then not very often.

He believed that he knew her pretty well, or at least as well as he could when she held so much back, so he understood that silence was what she needed at that moment. She got that same thousand yard stare whenever she'd get lost in thought, so he stayed quiet, allowing her to collect her thoughts. He saw several emotions play across her face, most dominant of those being confusion and yearning. Llego suspected there was no one from her past that she missed or even really cared about, and that bothered him. She'd sounded confused when she'd spoken, as though the concept of friends was foreign to her. No one should live as alone as she seemed to be.

Llego felt his heart constrict a little. He committed, again, to making sure that she knew they cared about her. Himself especially; he couldn't imagine life without her around. If some day she decided to leave and move on again, he wanted to make sure she wouldn't forgot them, or that they cared about her.

When Anivari focused again, she realized they'd been quiet for a long time. She scanned the gardens, noting an increase in guards, as she tried to come up a reason for her silence.

However, like always, Llego knew what to do. "The Founding Festival starts tomorrow. Have you thought at all about whether you want to go this year?"

The Founding Festival was a four day long celebration of when Berne was chosen as the capital, filled with all sorts of entertainment for the town and visitors. The Syndicate was a big part of the festival, providing food, drink, entertainment, games and all sorts of fun. Jobs were usually postponed during the event to have as many hands on deck as possible.

Usually, she'd sneak out of town before it started so she could avoid being given something to do, but their latest job had made that impossible this year. Benji had caught her earlier in the day, when he told her about the party being thrown for them. They were doing a treasure hunt this year around town and he had put her in charge of it. He decided that because of how sneaky she was, she was the most qualified to hide the treasures around town.

Anivari sighed. "I have to attend. Benji put me in charge of the children's treasure hunt this year."

"Ah, so he did catch you." She looked at him sharply, noticing something in his tone. He noticed her look. "I tried to steer him away from you and told him I'd let you know about the party. I was trying to give you enough time to get back out of town."

She smiled slowly. "Really?"

"Yeah. Did you think I had not noticed?" He smiled back. "You have been part of the company for a few years and never attended a single festival. I figured it out last year when you avoided a job we took on the week before it started. We got back the day before the festival and you had disappeared; you didn't surface again until the day after it was over.

Her smile widened. "Well thanks for trying."

"Any way you can hide the treasures tonight and sneak out after?"

"No, he put me in charge of running it, too. I'll have to be here all four days." She sighed. "I'd rather take the punishment."

Llego looked thoughtful. "You know, all my tasks are prep work in the evening. If you wanted, I could cover for you."

She cocked her head at him and raised an eyebrow. "You know we'd both get in trouble, right? There's no way Benji wouldn't notice I wasn't there."

He shrugged. "I don't get in trouble very often, so he might go easy on me."

She laughed. "That's okay, I've made my peace with it. It might be fun."

"I think they are." He perked up a bit as a thought occurred to him. "Hey, the first night they always have fireworks. You want to go watch them with me? The mages usually put on a good show."

"Sure, I'd love to watch them with you. The kids' hunt ends before dinnertime, so I won't be busy."

"Great!" He glanced over at the hall again in time to see Spike zero in on their location. "Uh-oh."

"What?"

"Spike sees us."

Anivari quickly and silently moved up a branch, making herself small. "Maybe he only saw you. I don't wanna go inside, you go."

Llego leaned down and waved at Spike. Spike waved to him in Geshire, a silent language created by a small tribe of elves in the Galavar Woods. They were a nonverbal race that communicated with hand gestures instead of words.

_I know she's up there. Benji is looking for her. Get out of there before he sees you or she'll have no choice but to come in here_. Llego gestured that he understood.

"Spike knows you're up here. He wants me to leave so I don't lead Benji to you." Llego hopped down, landing silently. Without looking up at her, he stretched a little and said. "Good luck with your treasure hunt."

Anivari moved farther up the tree as he walked away, blending into the dark shadows in the tree.

Llego joined Spike, who was now leaning against the wall. The human took a swig from his mug. "She still avoiding the crowd?"

"Yes," Llego answered, taking the offered mug to take a drink. "Did you know Benji gave her a job for the festival this year?"

Spike looked surprised. "He did? That's a first. She hasn't attended a single one since she joined." He grinned. "How much crap are we going to give her for this? She was finally unable to get out of it."

"I am not going to give her any. In fact, I am going to watch the fireworks show with her tomorrow."

"Oh reeeally." Spike looked at him through slitted eyes. "Like you're taking her to see them?"

"I don't understand. We're going together, and since we live in the same place, we'll probably walk together. Does that answer your question?" Spike smiled slowly, oddly. It made Llego feel weird. "Why are you looking at me like that? You're being weird."

"What, me? I'm not being weird, I just asked a question."

"If you're trying to imply-"

Just then Rose came out, obviously drunk as she stumbled a little. "Wus my husbin?" she asked Llego, looking right past Spike. The two males looked at eachother, amused, and then Spike put his face between the two. "There you are!" She put her arms around Spike, mostly falling into him.

"Oh love, you are such a lightweight. Did you finish that whole beer already?"

"It was unly one bear," she said lifting a finger.

"A big bear."

"Yep, but I drank faster than Bel, so he owes me nother one."

"You should collect it later. You're already pretty gone on your first."

"I bed your pardon? I am right here," she said, squinting her eyes at him. "Did you do too much bear?"

Llego and Spike shared another look. Llego chuckled as Spike asked, "How about we go get something to eat? I'm starved."

"I'm, too. Eating suns nice." She turned around so quickly she almost fell over and then lurched into the hall, Spike close on her heels.

Llego decided he should go eat something, too. He subtly nodded at Anivari hiding in her tree and then went back inside.

From her perch, even though he couldn't see, she nodded back, then climbed a little higher so she could watch the stars. Taking a deep breath, she stared above her, taking in the beautiful night sky.

However, just as she started to relax, she felt it. The fine hairs along her arms and the back of her neck stood straight up, goosebumps covering her body as all her muscles tightened. Anger, thick and hot, filled her veins. She should have known the peace wouldn't last.

_He_ was calling.


End file.
